In this section

5 BARBY

(OS 1: 10000 a SP 57 SW, b SP 57 SE, c SP 56 NW,
d SP 56 NE)

The large parish, of some 1400 hectares, is roughly
triangular and projects W. into Warwickshire. It formerly
included the hamlet and land of Barby Nortoft, a detached
area covering about 80 hectares now in Kilsby parish
(Kilsby (2)). The E. part of the parish which contains the
village of Barby is mainly undulating land between 120 m.
and 175 m. above OD, on Middle Lias silts and Marlstone,
capped with glacial clays and gravels in the S.E. To the W.,
N.W. and S.W. the land slopes steeply down to an almost
level area floored by Lower Lias Clay at about 90 m. above
OD. Most of the flat W. part of the parish was, in medieval
times, the land of the village of Onley (1), now deserted
(Fig. 87). Its well-preserved remains are of special interest
because the whole village appears to have been ploughed
after its abandonment. The only other monument of note
is Barby Castle (2), a small fortified manor house site just
N. of the village.

Medieval and Later

a(1) Deserted Village of Onley (SP 511707; Figs. 22
and 87; Plate 9), in the N.W. of the parish, on Lias Clay at
88 m. above OD. It lies in the centre of a roughly
triangular area and on two maps of Barby (NRO,
Enclosure Map, 1779 and Parish Map, 1840) it is clear that
this area was formerly the lands of the village of Onley
(Fig. 87).

The village of Onley is not mentioned in documents
until 1272 (PRO, c133/2) and is presumably included
under Barby in all the national taxation records. In 1272 it
is recorded that one George de Cantelupe held Onley,
together with the manor of Barby. At Onley were '13
virgates in villeinage, value 9s. per annum'. In 1345 there
is a reference to 'tenements in Onle' perhaps implying that
the village still existed. Thereafter there is no indication of
its status until the early 18th century when it was described
as 'a hamlet of seven shepherds houses' (J. Bridges, Hist. of
Northants., I (1791), 24). By 1841, nineteen people lived in
the area, all in the five scattered farms which still exist (K.
J. Allison et al., The Deserted Villages of Northants. (1966),
44).

Fig. 22 Barby (1) Deserted village of Onley

The remains of the village cover some 28 hectares and
are well preserved. Some difficulty in interpretation results
from the fact that most of the site has been over-ploughed
in narrow ridge-and-furrow which has smoothed and
flattened the village earthworks. This fact alone would
make the site of unusual interest, and a number of other
features combine to make it one of the most important in
the county despite the unfortunate lack of documentation.

The remains lie on either side of a small S.W.–flowing
stream, the N.E. part of which is now in a culvert and
visible only in wet weather. The site can be divided into
four parts the best preserved of which is on the S. and
consists of a series of rectangular scarped closes lying on
each side of a hollow-way or main street. The latter
('a'–'b'–'c' on plan) is of irregular form and, in one place
('b'), is almost totally obliterated by later narrow-rig
which lies over it. At the N. end it curves N.W. to meet
the stream. From this hollow-way another runs E. ('d')
and a third runs W. (from 'b') to the stream. Further N.
two short hollow-ways or lanes also extend N.W. of the
stream. On the N.W. side of the main hollow-way are at
least six long embanked closes, presumably former crofts
and tofts, but all are over-ploughed by later ridge-and-furrow and any house-sites that may have existed have
been destroyed. To the S.E. of the hollow-way is a further
series of long closes. These do not appear to have been
ploughed but no definite building platforms are visible.
Further S.E. narrow-rig covers the area, but traces of a
long low scarp there ('e' on plan) suggest that there may
have been closes.

To the N. of one of the lesser hollow-ways ('d' on plan)
and N.E. of the end of the main one ('c') is another series of
closes, most of which have faint traces of later ploughing
within them, but which form no coherent plan. These
closes are bounded on the N. by a hollow-way ('f' on plan)
which is the largest feature of the whole site, being as much
as 2.5 m. deep in places. Though the hollow-way has
certainly been used as a street it is in fact also the line of the
original stream and must have been used as a watercourse
when the village was occupied, as the water from the
fishponds to the E. must have run along it.

Immediately N. of this hollow-way is a long rectangular
area ('g' on plan) bounded on the N. by a narrow ditch
beyond which is an area of narrow-rig ploughing. This
area has been completely ploughed over at some time, but
slight banks and scarps indicate that it was formerly
divided into closes of various sizes. To the W. are two
Fishponds of irregular shape ('h' on plan), separated by a
mutilated bank or dam only 1 m. high at the W. but 2 m.
high at the E. The ponds are cut into the adjacent ground
and the scarps along their E. sides are up to 2 m. high. The
southernmost has traces of later ploughing within it and
the adjacent medieval ridge-and-furrow to the E. appears
to overlie its E. edge.

On the N.W. of the stream ('i' on plan) is a large area of
land covered with narrow-rig ploughing and bounded on
the N.W. by a broad ditch or hollow-way, beyond which
is normal medieval ridge-and-furrow. Within this area,
and almost totally destroyed by the later ploughing, are
traces of long narrow closes edged by low scarps. These
closes appear to be more regular than those elsewhere on
the site and might be regarded as a late addition to the
village. On the other hand the subsequent ploughing may
have altered their original form and made them look more
regular than they were.

The ruinous cottage N.W. of the stream though mainly
of 19th-century date contains some late 18th-century
features and may be a rebuilding of one of the shepherds'
cottages recorded in the early 18th century. A few sherds of
14th-century pottery have been found along the bed of the
stream (CUAP, SB2–4, NT32, 33, AWQ45, 48).

Fig. 23 Barby (2) Site of manor house

a(2) Site of Manor House (SP 543707; Fig. 23), known
as Barby Castle, lies on a prominent rounded hill of clay at
145 m. above OD, dominating the village centre. It is
presumably the site of an early manor house which had
some form of defence. The field in which it stands was
known as Hall Close in the early 19th century (G. Baker,
Hist. of Northants., I (1822–30), 264).

The site consists of an oval flat-topped mound only
1 m.–1.5 m. above the surrounding hillside, bounded by a
broad flat-bottomed ditch 1 m. deep. There are slight traces
of an outer bank on the S.E. side but modern housing
development has encroached upon the ditch on the S. and
has destroyed a section of this outer bank which is visible
on air photographs. From the E. and W. sides of the site
broad scarps up to 1 m. high extend in both directions.
These are the boundaries of old enclosures, some still with
traces of ridge-and-furrow within them. To the S. of the
site, in an area now covered by modern housing, air
photographs show a hollow-way which presumably once
linked the manor house to the village (see (3); RAF VAP
CPE/UK/1994, 1353–4, 1482–3; CUAP, ACA74, 75).

a(3) Settlement Remains (centred SP 543705), formerly
part of Barby village, lay immediately S. of the site of the
manor house (2) and N. of Ware Road. The area has been
completely built over, but air photographs taken before
destruction (RAF VAP CPE/UK/1994, 1482–3; CUAP, ACA75)
show a number of rectangular embanked closes along
Ware Road, with a hollow-way between them linking the
road with the manor house site. A quantity of medieval
pottery, mainly of the 13th century, has been found in the
garden of a house (local inf.). The area was already devoid
of building by 1779 (NRO, Enclosure Map). These
remains, together with the Enclosure Map, go a long way
towards explaining the morphology of the village of Barby.
The present plan suggests that it originated as one of the
so-called 'double-looped' villages. However, as the map
clearly shows, the village was formerly arranged around a
very large rectangular green with a fortified manor house
(2) on the N. and the church in the S.E. corner. From the
E. side of the green three lanes extended E. to meet a back
lane. The green had already been partly encroached upon
before 1779, but at Enclosure the remainder was divided
into small fields some of which were later built over.

Elsewhere in the village various closes bounded by low
banks and scarps still remain. These appear to be former
paddocks now incorporated into the adjacent fields (e.g. in
the N.E. corner of the village at SP 547706 and 546704).
More existed S. of the church (at SP 544701) but these have
also been destroyed by modern housing (RAF VAP
CPE/UK/1994, 1482–3).

(4) Cultivation Remains. The common fields of the
village of Barby were enclosed by an Act of Parliament of
1778 (NRO. Enclosure Map, 1779). Immediately before
that date there were three large open fields surrounding the
village, Wood Field to the W., Brackleydale Field to the E.,
and Nether Field to the N. There was a small area of old
enclosures lying W. of the village at the N. end of Wood
Field (centred SP 533705) with an outlying farmstead, now
destroyed, at its S. end.

Ridge-and-furrow of these common fields exists on the
ground or can be traced on air photographs over almost the
entire area. It is arranged in end-on and interlocked
furlongs, many of reversed-S form, except in the S.E. of
the parish where, on the steep slopes of Barby Hill, it
radiates outwards around the spur. No ridge-and-furrow
is visible in the area of the old enclosures W. of the village.

The date of the enclosure of the common fields of Onley
is unknown. Ridge-and-furrow of these fields exists on the
ground or can be traced on air photographs around the site
of the deserted village (1) and in the N. and W. parts of the
land attributable to the latter. It is arranged mainly in
interlocked furlongs and is still exceptionally well preserved
over wide areas. The site of the village of Onley is largely
covered by narrow ridge-and-furrow (Fig. 22 and Plate 9)
probably of late 18th or early 19th-century date (RAF VAP
CPE/UK/1994, 1352–5, 1481–6; 106 G/UK/636, 4433–40).